After two decades of slow progress, restoration of Cootes Paradise takes a giant leap forward Mother Nature pressed fast-forward this summer on the decades-long recovery of the most important fish spawning marsh this side of Lake Ontario. But if you don't routinely paddle and peer into the water of Cootes Paradise, you probably missed it. "I went for a paddle in June and presto — it looked like we had practically regrown half the marsh," said Tys Theysmeyer, head of natural lands for the Royal Botanical Gardens. It was a startling development for an agency that has worked since 1993 to restore the ill-treated water body at the west end of Hamilton Harbour, where pollution, flushed silt and voracious carp had all but wiped out vegetation in the once-teeming wetland. When we started restoration, there were two water lilies left here. Tys Thysmeyer Royal Botanical Gardens Over two decades, sewage control efforts, a $2.3-million carp barrier and replant...
A call for a paradigm shift toward nature in Hamilton Ontario